


Ever So Slightly

by EAI



Series: Tell the Tales [2]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, BAMF Barry Allen, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Leonard and Lisa are twins, M/M, Shy Leonard Snart, superhero au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2017-06-26
Packaged: 2018-11-19 06:28:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11307636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EAI/pseuds/EAI
Summary: "Use those, and you're welcome," Leonard said, slipping his hands into his pockets as he turned his heels and headed for the neighborhood where he lived. Barry stood from his seat, staring at the other's retreating back. A little shocked, but he mumbled a quiet thank-you nonetheless.





	Ever So Slightly

**Author's Note:**

> This is the second-part of my "Tell the Tales" series, will be updated when I have the time to finish and edit the chapters. Unbeta'd, English is not my first language. 
> 
> Please listen to Olafur Arnalds' Þú Ert Jörðin and Adventure Time's Everything Stays. 
> 
> Enjoy!

“—the incredible Captain Boom stands tall and proud, his scarlet cape flutters along the wind as he gazes at the beauty of his toddler-made city… of multicolored Lego blocks! Lamp for a summer sun, honking miniature toy cars bopping together on a road map play mat! Lego mini-figures cheer at him, ‘ _Hurrah! Hurrah_!’ Captain Boom has saved them once again! But suddenly, out of nowhere, a dinosaur appears!”

Barry, in his reptile onesie, gave his best roar! His stubby feet toddling and crashing Lego buildings as he squealed delightedly. Nora, gently assisting her son’s path of destruction, continued. “The chubby, scaly monster destroys everything in its path. Cars crashing against each other, houses wrecked, people screaming! ‘ _Oh, what to do?! Captain Boom, please save us_!’ they say. Captain Boom replies” – Nora lowered her voice – “ _’Don’t worry, I will save you_!’ and then—“

—and then, Barry grabbed the plastic action figure, stuffing it inside his mouth.

Nora stopped, eyes wide and amused.

“Now that’s anticlimactic,” she chuckled, saving the action figure from her son’s vicious nibbling. “Poor Captain Boom, you chewed his head off!”

Barry laughed. “Ooh, ooh! I wanna be a superhero next, mommy!”

He bounced out of his playroom, with his mother at his tail. He told her all the things a superhero had to be and have: rich and popular, big and strong, a secret hideout and a sidekick. Barry hunted for his tricycle, behind the couches, under the tables and at the kitchen but couldn’t find it anywhere in the house. He insisted that his version of superhero didn’t have the ability to fly and had to have a form of transport. After minutes of trotting around, searching all rooms, he looked up to his mother as his eyes began to swell with tears. But he bit the insides of his cheeks, determined not to let them fall.

“I can’t find my tricycle…”

Nora shook her head fondly from where she was leaning against, pinching Barry’s cheek and moved to help him find his missing tricycle. Then she spotted it outside at the garden, where it had stumbled to its side on the grass. “Look, sweetie! You’ve left it outside.”

Barry toddled to the sliding door, and beamed when he saw it. He tried to slide the screen but Nora picked him up before he managed to. Unfortunately, it was too sunny for him outside. And so, before he sulked, she cradled him into her arms, kissed his bun-like cheeks and grabbed _Plush-Plush_ – the hand-knit tiger plushy his late grandmother made for him.

“Bear, I have a story to tell you,” Nora said, handing Plush-Plush to her son as they collapsed down to their huge, brown bean bag. Barry giggled, burrowing close to his mother’s safe comfort. “It’s about a superhero, a little different from yours. Do you want to hear it?”

Fervently, he nodded his head, his Plush-Plush squished between his arms and chest because, after all, his mother had the tendency to be dramatic – and so was he. And also, she was a great story-teller. Barry focused on his mother’s face, and waited patiently for the sparkle in her eyes whenever she shared him one of her infinite tales.

“His story is a sad one. You see, Bear, this particular superhero has a really rough start…”

And so she told him, hours were spent telling him the tragic story of this mysterious hero, from beginning to the end. The struggles, the pain, the loss – everything.

“…where did he go, mommy?”

“Someplace far where no one can reach him, so he can protect his loved ones.”

But when Nora noticed that her son was about to cry, from the way his cheeks grew splotches of deep red, she hushed him. “It’s okay to cry, Barry. Crying doesn’t make you weak. It’s because you’ve been strong for far too long. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

He sniffed, wiping his snot with the sleeves of his onesie. “But Mr. Superhero never cried at all.”

“He did, sweetie. He cried so much when he lost his mother, and again when his father was killed. He was lost and nearly blind when his lover died in his arms, and when he couldn’t save the children from the orphanage. But he still grew out stronger each day.”

“Oh.”

Realizing that the summer sun had cooled a bit, Barry jumped out from his mother’s cradle, back to his spirited personality, demanding ice-cream before asking her to play with him outside. Tears long gone, both bellies fed with delicious homemade sorbet, Barry pulled his mother along with him out to their beautiful garden. Not to play superheroes and villains, but to dance and sing with her.

Replacing his onesie with much lighter clothes, Nora lifted him to the air, and sang. “ _Let’s go in the garden, you’ll find something waiting_.”

“ _Right there where you left it, lying upside down_ ,” she pushed the screen door to the side, pointing her finger at the tricycle. Barry wiggled in her embrace, dropping to his feet on the porch as he hopped down the steps, to the grass and to his tricycle. “ _When you finally find it, you’ll see how it’s faded. The underside is lighter, when you turn it around_.”

Barry, with a huge grin on his face, tried to mimic his mother’s gentle voice and the song’s tender rhythm. Nora’s heart melted at the adorable sight of her toddler, she crouched down a little and held his hands. They swayed together, enjoying the little time they had left to spend. “ _Everything stays, right where you left it. Everything stays, but it still changes. Ever so slightly, daily and nightly_.”

Autumn arrived, a few weeks later. The once beautiful garden was left abandoned, and the house grew colder. Barry, all by his lonesome, stood at the middle – staring at his tricycle. He had enough of crying, his heart had enough. Under his breath, he mumbled. “ _In little ways, when everything stays_.”

**Author's Note:**

> Call me Iai (pronunciation: e-ai) <3 And I'll see you very, very soon!


End file.
